The 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible's Performance

Andres Valbuena, Product Manager at Volkswagen of America, on the old Beetle as a chick car and the new one as a performance vehicle:

"The 1998 Beetle, from the beginning it had the vase, and within a year it was already labeled as a chick car. They brought in the 1.8 Turbo a few years later to try to make a sportier one, but by then it was already labeled a chick car, and nothing changed that perception. It was labeled a cute car, with cute colors, and women were attracted to it. And as soon as a guy sees something like that, he says, 'Well, I'm not going to drive that.'

Whenever I plan a car, I have to be able to drive it. I have to sell myself on it. And I wanted to plan a car that would be built for everybody, for more people. So by focusing on the sportiness when we launched, and bringing in the Turbo right away, it was different enough that somebody like myself would enjoy driving it. There are things that tie this car more to the driving enthusiast: the turbo, the 18-inch wheels, the bigger brakes, the GTI suspension. We gave the car justification to be driven and to be fun to drive, whereas before it didn't have that. Before it was the cute car, the bubbly car to cruise around town. Now you can take it to the track."

The Beetle Turbo Convertible comes with a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four, producing 200 hp, while the base model has a 2.5-liter, 170-hp engine. The pick-up on the base model is less than impressive, but once you get this Beetle rolling, you definitely feel like you are rolling.